Dear Friends and Supporters of the Refuge and the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign,

Hello Everyone. It is now Monday, September 28th, 2009. It is 3 days after the last day of the G20 demonstrations and actions.

Our contingent from Florida arrived back in Florida on Saturday night. We were tired, but encouraged and excited about what happened there. For more than 5 days and encampment of the poor, the homeless, the unemployed and their supporters camped out at Monumental Baptist Church, on their grounds in of the poorest, historical African American Districts called the Hill District in Pittsburgh, PA. We participated in the March for Jobs on the 20th with more than 1000 people,including PPEHRC, the Refuge, Bail Out the People, several Unions and others. We had to opportunity to speak at this event and talk about how movements to end poverty must be informed and led by those effected by it. We had workshops on ending poverty, worker rights, unions, and global issues. We viewed several films, including "Explicit Ills", which talked about healthcare and poverty with PPEHRC and a protest as the back drop. We did a speak out on ending Police Repression, and one about Healthcare. We had a March on Mellon Bank in the middle of the day on Wednesday and managed to get serious attention and disrupt traffic. At this March, we spoke of Predatory lending, foreclosures, and the housing crisis.

We also participated in several large Marches, including a large March on Thursday that was unpermitted. The authorities claim we had only 500 people, but it was more like 3000 to 4000. It was at this event, the Police Repression was the greatest, though throughout the week the Police harassed by Flying helicopters overhead at all hours, sending Police by in their Patrol cars, randomly stopping people and asking for their ID's for no apparent reason, in one case we were visited by Secret Service. At first, we thought they were there for a funeral the Church was having, but when I discovered they were Secret Service, I went up and talked with them and took a picture of them. I got more than 80 pictures at this event this week. So, we have lots of footage. During the unpermitted march on Thursday, the Police used tear gas in a residential neighborhood effecting both protesters and residents, including children. They used tear gas on the University of Pittsburgh campus, and got both protesters and students, who were looking from their dorms. The police used high intensity sound machines, which gave me at headache, and they used rubber bullets and concussion grenades. I, as well as the group with me, were victims of tear gas. Several news reporters were hit with batons, tear gassed and hit with Police fists, including a New York Times Reporter and a CNN reporter.

At the permitted march, several thousand (at least 15,000) marched. Cheri Honkala, National Organizer with PPEHRC, spoke as did Union Organizers, Cindy Sheehan, and many others. Our march was blocked several times by a massive Police Presence and Military presence. They had helicopters, including Chenok troop carriers, Blackhawk helicopters, and Apache Attack helicopters, as well as armoured vehicles and Humvees. So, the Militarized presence was enormous. But, we were undaunted and got our messaged out of justice and peace and economic human rights. Several news organizations from the International community covered the event, including Al Jazerra, the BBC, German Television, Australian Television, and Japanese Television among others.

In closing, we believe it was a very worthwhile demonstration. We were especially pleased that the message of the poor, oppressed, unemployed and homeless were heard by those who were effected by the current economic crisis. Without your help and support, we could not have done this trip. We thank you. However, the work locally, must continue.

Our struggle for economic human rights for the poor and oppressed continues. We continue to serve and work alongside the homeless, the poor, and the unemployed. So, we need your continued support, help, and prayers.

For more info. about what happened on this trip you can go to www.economichumanrights.org.

Thank you again,
Rev. Bruce Wright

Labels: Bail Out the People, Cheri Honkala, FL PPEHRC, G20, Pittsburgh, Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, Refuge Ministries of Florida, Rev. Bruce Wright

"Pittsburgh Welcomes the World" was the slogan of the G-20's host city the past week and it could be seen on shirts and billboards and in the papers, but for the largest demonstration in the city since the 1970's the voices of the poor and oppressed were severely limited.



A number of delegations of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) descended on Pittsburgh from across the nation along with many other organizations to protest the G-20 and attempt to get issues that really matter to people on the docket. PPEHRC National Organizer Cheri Honkala brought an open letter from the Balducci Center in Italy, written to President Obama asking why in a nation as rich as the United States of America millions did not have health care and will continue to seek ways to get it into his hands. The poor can not afford not to have their voices heard at events like this, where, without making themselves seen, they are invisible and undiscussed.

A speak out on the issues of housing, jobs and health care preceded the showing of the movie Explicit Ills which deals with health care in poor people's lives. PPEHRC delegates stayed in a tent city set up on the grounds of Monumental Baptist Church, where on Friday morning leaders of the campaign gave a press conference before preparing for the peaceful people's march through downtown Pittsburgh. The march stopped on the 7th street bridge looking out at the G-20 conference uplifting their voices toward the G-20 summit before finishing their march. Shortly thereafter police arrived to disperse the marchers from the park.

Press Coverage:
Mostly the coverage is of thursday nights' demonstrations and police brutality on campuses.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/26/world/26pittsburgh.html?_r=1&ref=politics

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleynewsdispatch/s_645112.html

http://www.wpxi.com/news/21104013/detail.html Look at Album 3 pictures 31, 42, 59

http://kdka.com/local/g20/tent.city.protest.2.1196577.html

http://kdka.com/local/g20/hill.district.protest.2.1191673.html

Labels: Balducci Center, Cheri Honkala, Explicit Ills, G20, Pittsburgh

Poor and homeless members of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) from across the United States are participating this week in Protests during the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, PA, including helping to organize a national Tent City, and participating in marches for jobs and health care and against the war. Following is an update sent by Reverend Bruce Wright, from The Refuge, a PPEHRC organization in St. Petersburg, Florida. 

I am writing this letter from the G20 summit demonstrations on the site of the Tent City of the dedicated to the homeless, poor, and unemployed. We are here with a group of 10 from Florida. 7 of our group are homeless and unemployed. The rest are working poor. We arrived safely on Sunday, Sept. 20th.                          

We have been very busy since we arrived. We participated in a March for jobs on Sunday with more then 1200 in our march. Monday and Tuesday we participated in activities at our Tent City. On Tuesday, we participated in 2 marches on Tuesday. One march was for an end to Police Repression and harassment both at the G20 and also throughout our communities. There were testimonies of Police harassment at this event describing being detained for no reason, raiding people's camp sites, invasive Police presence in neighborhoods (shinning lights in people's homes at night, Police dogs barking, etc.), and in one case 45 Police in Riot gear attacking a community farm and destroying gardens that had vegetables that were used to feed the demonstrators. And, in one case a group was detained trying to come to our camp site with Bail Out People.                         

In addition, to this protest, Bail Out People and the PPEHRC organized a march and demonstration on Mellon Bank, one of the largest banks in Pennsylvania. It was known for predatory lending and foreclosures. We had several people from our group speak at this demonstration and the march on Sunday and participate in a press conference, including myself. Today, is going to be a full day of teach-ins, demos, and film showings.                       

We expect Police repression to intensify. There are 2000 National Guard troops here, as well as armored vehicles and several Blackhawk and Apache helicopters here. You can, at times, feel the tension. It seem crazy to have such overkill in a Militarized presence. It is being locked down like a Police state.                          

In closing, please expect more updates. For more information see www.refugestpete.org or www.economichumanrights.org. Poor and homeless families from PPEHRC from other parts of the U.S. will be joining us tomorrow. 

Thank you,
Rev. Bruce Wright 
The Refuge, St. Petersburg, Florida Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC)

Labels: FL PPEHRC, G20, Pittsburgh, Refuge Ministries of Florida, Rev. Bruce Wright